The Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff highlights the supposed “sign-ups” on the last day or something
The evidence we have so far — albeit limited — suggests that lots of Obamacare shoppers made it in just under the wire.
California estimates that 27,000 people picked insurance plans this past Monday and 29,000 the Friday prior. Just last week, the state was averaging 15,000 sign-ups per day. Washington state had 10,000 people enroll Monday, and a total of 20,000 from Dec. 20-23. That accounts for one in 10 Washingtonians picking private health insurance plans. And New York had about 20,000 sign-ups come in that same day.
Of course, these are only the three states we know about. The 36 states on HealthCare.gov do not release data on their own schedule but rather rely on the federal government’s monthly data sets. We won’t know December enrollment numbers until sometime in the middle of January.
Of course, those numbers are simply people who picked plans. We have no idea how many have done something crazy like pay for them. I’d be surprised if we learn the actual numbers of people who’ve paid for the plans before the end of March. Or, perhaps, the day after the mid-terms in November. Anyhow, this is what really caught my attention
Charles Gaba has been going to painstaking efforts to show the trajectory of health law sign-ups over the past three months. His graph (which is better viewed here, on his Web site) gives a helpful visual sense of what the last month has looked like for health-care enrollment. This uses all available data, including the monthly, federal reports and more up-to-date state data, too.
Here’s what the graph looks like
So, 3.93 million moved into Medicaid/SCHIP, aka, government programs, versus 1.82 million into private plans, which are currently running at 26% enrollment. This is the definition of “success”, putting most signups, many who had private insurance previously, directly under the banner of government programs.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Note that the graphic does not include 3.1 million young enrollees in their parents’ private plans, bringing the private enrollees to almost 5 million. Recall that the ACA extends coverage to dependents until they turn 26.
It would be great if our economic system supplied enough well-paying jobs to allow families to purchase affordable, quality healthcare, but alas, it does not. Just as the government had to step in to repair another “free”-market failure (affordable healthcare for seniors), it has to step in now and try to repair healthcare. N.B. – Healthcare in the US costs twice as much as in other advanced nations with the extra money going to exorbitant salaries, drug and device manufacturers, insurance companies and gouging by private businesses (hospice care, nursing homes, physicians, clinics). A for-profit system, by definition, maximizes profits.
Did you know that doctors and clinics make more profit when they prescribe and sell more expensive medicines and procedures? Genentech sells the anti-angiogenic drug Avastin for $50 a dose and the similar Lucentis (for wet macular degeneration) for $2000 a dose. Instead of Lucentis, many doctors use Avastin off-label for wet macular degeneration to save the patient’s money. But many more use Lucentis since they make more and Genentech makes more. A for-profit system, by definition, maximizes profits.
The hospice care industry in the US has been captured by private companies and has expanded to a $17 billion/yr industry ($15 billion paid by Medicare to private corporations). The corporations have been actively recruiting potential patients earlier and earlier. The average nonprofit hospice serves a patient for 69 days, the average for-profit for an average of 102 days. A for-profit system, by definition, maximizes profits.
Recall that the ACA extends coverage to dependents until they turn 26.
And recall that those young, healthy people won’t be creating their own plans which the ACA needs to succeed.
It is amazing that Jeffy doesn’t understand basic economics.
I make it a policy to not respond to other commenters but the guttersnipe has repeated yet another zombie lie, one fully endorsed by the so-called liberal media, i.e., young healthy folks must buy insurance or the system will collapse.
Please read: http://kff.org/health-reform/perspective/the-numbers-behind-young-invincibles-and-the-affordable-care-act/
See a summary at: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/washington-post-didnt-get-the-memo-health-care-exchanges-dont-need-young-people
The evidence contradicts the conventional wisdom.
Consider this, too – since the rates are age-based (the younger pay much lower rates), healthy, older insureds are more important for the system than young “invincibles’!
I make it a policy to not respond to other commenters
Translation: I cannot debate so I am just a troll.
But let’s look at Jeffy’s “proof.”
The second article uses as its source the same study provided by the Kaiser Foundation in the first cite. Jeffy seems to be trying to say “if you repeat a lie enough times it will become true.”
But let’s look at what Kaiser actually said:
Let’s be clear. The Kaiser Family Foundation is saying the enrollment of young people is important.
And…..
In other words, the need for young invincibles is important for the ACA to succeed. The only difference is whether the so called “death spiral” will take place without them or whether premiums will rise to cover their non-participation. As the ACA was passed in part on the basis of lowering premiums, for the ACA to succeed as advertised, the young invincibles must take part.
It really sucks when the very citations one uses disputes your claims.
[…] The Pirate’s Cove noted the uncomfortable fact that the laughably-named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has led to 1.82 million enrollments in private health insurance plans through the ever-shifting deadline date, it has also resulted in 3.93 million enrollments in Medicaid or SCHIP (the State Children’s Health Insurance Program: So, 3.93 million moved into Medicaid/SCHIP, aka, government programs, versus 1.82 million into private plans, which are currently running at 26% enrollment. This is the definition of “successâ€, putting most signups, many who had private insurance previously, directly under the banner of government programs. […]